Maine Real Estate, The Right Price & The Right Time Is All It Takes!

 

Happy New Year!

We hope you had a nice holiday with your family and friends. My little girl Elena turned 1 on 12/22 with a party on 12/21, Winter Solstice. A nor’easter came through that day dumping 16″ of new snow. A fascinating sight for her. It was a magical time for us.

 

Attached is the November real estate figures from Maine Real Estate Information Services. Cumberland County faired better than the past few months with a decrease of 11.53% in total units sold from November ’07 and a median price drop of 9.68%. See attached report for more details. We also saw a decrease in interest rates this month to close to 5%.  Home values are currently at 2003-2004 levels, coming down significantly from their high point. There is also a first time home buyer tax credit of up to $7,500 and low or no money down programs available for many people today, now is a great time to buy a home. So why are you or a friend/relative renting? Sellers be patient. There is a buyer out there for every home. It just takes the right price and time on the market. A recent listing took me 1 year to sell with only a $18,000 variation from what the seller listed it at 1 year ago.

 

Anne-Marie Mckenzie

Rosemary Fecteau PhD

Personal Service Beyond the Sale

 

 Click Here To View The Latest Maine Housing Report

National Association of Realtors Economic Stimulus Bill

 

The NAR has a 4 point bill  to add to the latest housing relief bill.  Their official stance in the matter is that while the relief bills area a great effort by the government, they have consistently fallen short of accomplishing their goal. 

The NAR believes more needs to be done to address the stabilization of the real estate market and calls for more over sight in the bail-out funds being dispersed to banks and other lending institutions to insure that the money is used for its intended purpose, and really who could blame them for being concerned?  It’s not as if those institutions did such a fine job managing their funds the first time.

It also calls for a revocation of mandatory repayment of the $7,500 tax credit (either way it goes this offer is only valid until July of 2009, so if you’re on the fence about buying you’d better shake a leg if you intend to utilize this option).

 The N.A.R.’s  4 point plan is also trying to encourage the government to make the recent changes to FHA, Fannie Mae & Freddie MAC  permanent, making first time home ownership a little easier than it was a few months ago when, in response to the credit crisis, lending institutions tightened their lending restrictions & requirements so much that it was difficult for anyone to buy a home!

The last point of the bill, of course, takes a stab at banks and other lending institutions who have been trying to break into the real estate industry, by stating that they don’t need to be practicing real estate since they obviously couldn’t handle their own business. (this matter is a bone the NAR has been chewing on for a while, so perhaps they finally get to win this argument once and for all).

In review, it is my opinion that the National Association of Realtors has really taken the long view of this new stimulus bill and is trying to affect long term and productive change that can both assist the public and stabilize the housing market at the same time.  I think they would be excellent additions to the next stimulus package!

For more information about the stimulus package visit: www.Realtor.org

  Contact Anne-Marie McKenzie & Associates Today!
207-829-3339 x 111
ammckenzie@maine.rr.com
www.mainerealestateresource.com

NAR Moving Forward & Leaving Trouble Home Owners Behind?

 

In an effort to breath some life into our Nations dying housing market The National Association of Realtors is advocating a government backed interest rate buy down to lower the overall interest rate to 4.5% for a temporary but unspecified period of time.  The N.A.R. believes that such a rate subsidy will stabilize the national housing market by stimulating sales. (The NAR has calculated that this 1% drop in interest rate could result in as much as 500,000 home sales).

Great Idea but who gets to pay for it? Well, It has been suggested that the funds for such a buy down come from the **U.S. Treasury Departments Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)…which is the biggest part of the ***Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (aka “the Bail Out”) This interest rate would be made available to all homebuyers purchasing new or existing homes up to $1 million in price.

There is, as usual, some controversy surrounding the bill.  The biggest complaint is that while the NAR’s plan would absolutely stimulate buying, it has not made any provisions in their stimulus bill to assist the people who are already in serious danger of losing their houses.  I’d be interested to hear why, but in the end it doesn’t matter…the biggest jobs of the National Association of Realtors is to protect the housing market and preserve the profession of real estate, and so forward thinking is called for and while their plan does not make accommodations for people already in trouble it goes a long way toward insuring that the next generation of home owners don’t encounter the same problems in the future. 

** read more about the public law that established TARP
***read the details of the Emergency  Economic Stimulus Acts of 2008

Contact Anne-Marie Mckenzie & Associates for More Information